Ralph Quotes

“There aren’t any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves.”

“Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable”

“Something deep in Ralph spoke for him. ‘I’m chief. I’ll go. Don’t argue.’ ”

“They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate.”

“Ralph sat on a fallen trunk, his left side to the sun. On his right were most of the choir; on his left the larger boys who had not known each other before the evacuation; before him small children squatted in the grass.”

″‘Then we must go as we are,’ said Ralph, ‘and they won’t be any better.’ Eric made a detaining gesture. ‘But they’ll be painted! You know how it is.’ The others nodded. They understood only too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought. ”

“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.”

“The thing is – fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream.”

“Shut up,” said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things.” “A chief! A chief!” “I ought to be chief,” said Jack with simple arrogance, “because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.”

“You’ve noticed, haven’t you?” Jack put down his spear and squatted. “Noticed what?” “Well. They’re frightened.” He rolled over and peered into Jack’s fierce, dirty face. “I mean the way things are. They dream. You can hear ‘em. Have you been awake at night?” Jack shook his head. “They talk and scream. The littluns. Even some of the others. As if—” “As if it wasn’t a good island.” Astonished at the interruption, they looked up at Simon’s serious face. “As if,” said Simon, “the beastie, the beastie or the snake-thing, was real. Remember?”

“I was sure glad when the honeymoon was over. It was a nightmare. Not that things improved when we got home. They didn’t. Ralph moved in with us and straight away built a workshop at the bottom of the yard.”